My case is a bit branching , please bear with me...

[aeid79]

Dear Forum,

I am a non-EU citizen with a new HSMP EC (granted 29/4/2008) and first entered UK with this EC on 13/5/2008. I am planning to register myself as self employed in the UK, I don't have plans to undertake employment.

i am married to a Romanian citizen since December 2006 (before Romania became an EU state), my wife is not working but she helps me with my business. she doesn't have a university degree, only her high school diploma.

my questions are:

1) is it better to register my wife as my dependent or to make her register on her own as an EU citizen exercising an EU treaty by being self employed ? i.e. my wife will register as self-employed and live there legally as an EU citizen.

2) is it better / easier for me to remain an HSMP holder and go through the normal route of HSMP - FLR - ILR or to switch as my wife's dependant.

3) if i switched to be her dependant , how long will it take for me to get the ILR , is it also 5 years? or more? Also, will be allowed to undertake employment or self employment ?

4) what is the duration allowed to be outside the UK and still obtain the ILR (i.e. are we allowed to leave UK in the 5 years until we get the ILR considering that we will be both registered as self employed)

Many thanks for your patience and looking forward to hearing from you.

[try-one]

aeid79
1) if she can register as EU citizen exercising rights, then that is much better.

2)switch to married couple of EU citizen (shorter time for ILR), unless you are not sure of the relationship and are at risk of not being with her for 4 years....

3) ILR for EU citizen partner should be 3 years (my understanding....not sure); not sure if you can be self employed.....confirm that one with the board....

4) usually you need to avoid absence of more than 90 continuous days and 450? total absences.....last figure needs to be confirmed for ILR ..but it should be along those lines.

I'm sure other posters who have been on your situation would have more detailed information....

[John]

aeid79, you have gone to the trouble and expense of getting the HSMP. The time to ask your questions was before making that application! Anyway, using your numbering :-

1. I suggest it is better if she is self-employed. Indeed why don't the two of you form a partnership, thereby making you both self-employed?
2. File form EEA2 to get a Residence Card, and thus relieve yourself of the burdens of renewing the HSMP or rather Tier 1.
3. If you switch to the EU route you will never get ILR! But you will get PR .... Permanent Residence .... automatically after 5 years on the EU route, assuming of course that you do exercise your EU Treaty Rights in the UK for those 5 years. PR is the EU equivalent of ILR. It is basically the same, except no pass in the Life in the UK Citizenship test is required to get your PR.
4. You are certainly allowed to leave the UK .... you are not stranded here for the whole 5 years. However it needs to be clear that you are exercising the EU Treaty Rights for the 5 years, but that does not stop you travelling abroad on holiday or on business trips.

And in case you are wondering, Naturalisation? Under current law you could make such as application one year after getting your PR, but you would need to pass the Life in the UK Citizenship test before making the application.

[kaps]

..

[John]

Do you think staying in the UK on a student visa and not attending a course will be a problem?

Yes I do. She has no right to be in the UK and should leave in the near future.

HSMP dependent visa

HSMP has now been fully abolished (apart from applications made prior to 30.06.08, which will still get dealt with). So the visa she would apply for is a Tier 1 Dependent visa.

Show proof of living together - we have some proof of living together

There is no requirement, of course, for a couple to live together prior to marriage. So the London/Manchester matter is actually not an issue at all.

So in summary she should :-

• leave the UK forthwith, because she has breached the terms of her student visa
• get married to you in January 2009
• apply for a Tier 1 dependent visa to return to the UK

Suspect this is not what you wanted to hear!